This is what I have a problem with. What the frick is he spending his money on at single and 30 and doesn't live well off? He said he didn't live in a nice house or drive a nice car. But let's say he pays 15% tax and $1500 mortgage, and $800 car plus insurance and puts away 20%. He's still got over $3k to jack off with. I guess health insurance, utilities, and that jazz, another $1k. So that's $2k discretionary? How is that not well off?

quote:This is what I have a problem with. What the frick is he spending his money on at single and 30 and doesn't live well off? He said he didn't live in a nice house or drive a nice car. But let's say he pays 15% tax and $1500 mortgage, and $800 car plus insurance and puts away 20%. He's still got over $3k to jack off with. I guess health insurance, utilities, and that jazz, another $1k. So that's $2k discretionary? How is that not well off?

Honestly a lot of this depends on where you live. I'm originally from Lake Charles as well so I can certainly understand how someone saying that 100k isn't well off may sound absurd.

However, I live in NYC now and I can honestly say that 100K is not well off. Obviously the term is all relative as there are certainly plenty in NYC who make do on much less. Everything in a city like NYC is more expensive from rent (mortgage; what's that?), groceries, utilities, taxes (God the taxes!), and everything else.

quote:This is what I have a problem with. What the frick is he spending his money on at single and 30 and doesn't live well off? He said he didn't live in a nice house or drive a nice car. But let's say he pays 15% tax and $1500 mortgage, and $800 car plus insurance and puts away 20%. He's still got over $3k to jack off with. I guess health insurance, utilities, and that jazz, another $1k. So that's $2k discretionary? How is that not well off?

re: Perfect Annual Salary?Posted by VABuckeye on 7/29/13 at 7:32 am to Lsut81

quote:Of course Cali and NY are going to be major outliers.

Or DC or any number of other areas in the country with higher cost of living.

Your "perfect salary" is dependent on your current situation, where you live and your lifestyle expectations. At this point in my life my perfect salary is probably much higher than most of the people in this thread. However I'm self-employed so I know how to go out and get the business to give myself a raise. I plan to open another business or two in the next two years so I already expect to have a higher income somewhere around the end of that time frame.

It's all relative. There are people that can be perfectly content living on $50,000 a year and there are those where enough is never enough.

Kids actually think $70k is "a lot" of money. And I'm not saying that's nothing. Heck, there are federal government lawyers that don't make that much. Certainly lawyers in Louisiana, outside of New Orleans and bigger firms elsewhere, don't sniff $70k for a long time.

However, it isn't enough to support a $250k mortgage. $250k, even with virtually nothing in interest is still a $1500 to $1600 PI&E for 30 years, and $2k if you're smart and go 15.

Finance a couple of "nice" cars, and, with insurance, THAT'S well over $1k. Good luck paying for everything else on what's left.

Years ago I read a poll where they asked people what salary they'd have to make to consider themselves "rich," and people almost universally gave a number about twice what they were currently making. To a dude making $35K, someone making $70K was rich. But that guy making $70K wouldn't be happy until he was making $140K. At which point the really rich guy was pulling down $280. That's probably what we're seeing in this thread.

Honestly I feel grateful that I (and my wife) have a naturally frugal mindset because I could not imagine having the salaries some of you guys are talking about and feeling like every week was a struggle, or that I was barely eking by. But I do recognize that not everyone is like this.

quote:Honestly I feel grateful that I (and my wife) have a naturally frugal mindset because I could not imagine having the salaries some of you guys are talking about and feeling like every week was a struggle, or that I was barely eking by. But I do recognize that not everyone is like this.

I want to make clear - I'm flirting with $100k (from 2 jobs) and I am not living paycheck to paycheck. We have a fully funded emergency fund, and are relatively free of debt, outside the main home and student loans (which, for strategic purposes, I'm not retiring) - I have a slightly negative net worth, solely based on the student loans. That should drift to positive over the next 10 to 12 months.

BUT, to people that think $100k is all this money - I live in central Louisiana - about the lowest cost of living place you can imagine, and I assure you we are not "well off" - we're flat out rich compared to many of my neighbors - but that's relative.

I'm speaking in absolute terms not that "If I get to $160k, I'll think $320k is the ideal income." I would be well off at around $160k - in high cost of living areas, $250k is probably about right - that would cover you in SF, NYC, DC, etc.

The issue, you see is - housing and energy are about the only things the fluctuate wildly (some grocery items, but that balances out). Private schools can vary a little, but they're fairly stable. So, whatever you want to spend money on - once you overcome your housing/energy burden, higher incomes start to produce tangible increases in quality of life.

Yeah, if you're a miser and don't engage in expensive habits like hunting, fishing, golfing, etc., you can get by on less money, but you can also do that by limiting entertainment expenses, travel, energy conservation, etc.

I raised 3 children to adulthood on an average of about $35k per year - I still don't know how I did that. I spend that on housing (including utilities) and transportation, alone, now - and not extravagantly. Heck, just electricity and gasoline cost me over $7k now.

Right, I feel like if you are not living paycheck to paycheck, have a solidly funded retirement, and have a manageable amount of "good" debt, you are in a position not to be stressed about money. I mean, it'd be nice to have enough money where I could buy a brand new boat or BMW on a whim. But I'm not stressed about it.

quote:100k you are in the top at least 5% in central Louisiana so 95% think you're "well off"

Maybe so - it doesn't feel like that - ever. I drive around and see cars worth 2 to 3 times as much, drive by whole subdivisions full of houses costing 2.5 to 4 times as much as my house. It's tough to feel like I'm a "5 percenter" - unless all of those people are living on borrowed money.

quote:I mean, it'd be nice to have enough money where I could buy a brand new boat or BMW on a whim. But I'm not stressed about it.

This is a good point - I am underfunded on retirment, but I'm working the plan - I was so used to being stressed about money for so long (20+ years) - I didn't really turn the corner on money until about 24 months ago. Now, I continue to be stressed about it - not because of what I can't buy now, but those residual feelings may be interfering with my perception of my current situation (which is not bad, I admit).